"The First Century of the Republic" was a 19-part series that ran in Harper's Monthly from 1874 to 1876. It provided an in-depth look at advances in America in the preceding 100 years - since roughly 1776. The series focused most strongly on technological advances - developments in machinery, inventions, and scientific progress - but it also covered government, literature, finances, education, the arts and more. It's a fascinating look at the growth of America from the perspective of a country that was, at the time, just 100 years old!

#1: Introduction/Our Colonial Progress (Harper's Monthly, 1874)

#2: Mechanical Progress 1, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Steam-engines; agricultural implements (historical as well as recent); the steam-engine and its applications; steam navigation; the locomotive; cotton manufacture (including various spinning and weaving machines).

#3: Mechanical Progress 2, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Iron; mechanical puddlers; iron-rolling mills; fire-arms; precision instruments; bank-note engraving; watch-making; engineering; pile-driving; floating derricks, floating docks & dry-docks; steam-pumps; water-wheels; bridges & tunnels; wood-working (including saws and mortising machines).

#4: Mechanical Progress 3, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Elevators; domestic machinery (including sewing machines); safes; fire-arms & ordnance; telegraph; electroplating; electric light; fire engines; atmospheric railway; balloons; weighing machines; gas; silver; ice; sugar; porcelain; glass; paper; india rubber; meteorological instruments; anesthetics; artificial limbs; aquaria; matches; musical instruments.

#5: Mechanical Progress 4, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Printing (with a lengthy history of printing through the ages); type; type-founding; type-setting and distribution; stereotyping; electrotyping; the printing press; folding machines; addressing machines; printing for the blind; engraving; lithography; photography; photolithography; photo processes; photo-micrography.

#6: Progress in Manufacture, by David Wells (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

This installment gives a historical look at manufacturing and imports before and after the American Revolution and concludes with an interesting look at manufacturing statistics for a variety of industries in the US as of 1870.

#7: Agricultural Progress, by William H. Brewer (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Everything from sheep to cheese manufacture.

#8: The Development of Our Mineral Resources, by T. Sterry Hunt (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#9: Commercial Development, by Edward Atkinson (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#10: Growth and Distribution of Population, by Francis A. Walker (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#11: Monetary Development, by W.G. Sumner (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#12: The Experiment of the Union, with Its Preparations, by T.D. Woolsey (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#13: Educational Progress, by Eugene Lawrence (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

#14: The Progress of The Exact Sciences, by F.A.P. Barnard (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

#15: Scientific Progress: The Exact Sciences, by Theo. Gill (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

#16: American Literature, Part 1, by Edwin P. Whipple (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

#17: American Literature, Part 2, by Edwin P. Whipple (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

#18: Progress of the Fine Arts, by S.S. Conant (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

#19: Medical & Sanitary Progress, by Austin Flint, MD (Harper's Monthly, 1876B)

Including a look at the development of vaccines, some major surgical "firsts," and the development of anesthetics.